Dare You to Move
by piper2210
Summary: Faberry Future Fic: Set 5 years after college graduation. Rachel and Quinn were no longer in touch with each other, but they somehow met again. Where would this new found friendship takes them this time?
1. Part 1

**PART 1**

The usual Thursday nights for Rachel meant going out for a few drinks with her friends, just to chill out before the weekends kick in. Tonight wasn't any different than any other Thursday nights, except tonight they decided to venture to Soho to check out the night life in the artsy side of the city. Rachel hardly went to Soho; she preferred to spend time in Midtown. Tonight it was just Rachel and her two other girlfriends, both she had known for a few years now. They were her old friends from NYADA. They found a café with an 'open mic' night and knew straight away that was where they would settle for the night. It had been a while since Rachel could just relax and belted out some tunes in public without any pressure. So when the announcer called her name, she was a bit giddy. She didn't use her real name of course; she didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention. People might not recognize her face instantly but New Yorkers might know her name, considering that she was nominated for a Tony award just last year. She walked up slowly to the small stage, hoping that no one would recognize her. Instead of introducing herself, like she would normally do, she started singing the moment the music started playing. She chose a song that she had performed almost a decade ago in the Glee club. Even though at that time she was singing it to Finn, she wasn't thinking about him at this moment. This time she wanted to sing it just because her voice sounded great in it, if she might say so herself.

Quinn was sitting at the counter and was having a chat with the barista, Amy. It was a café that she frequented almost daily because it was the closest to her apartment, and also because it was currently showcasing some of her art work. She was having a conversation about her new camera with the barista, who was a photography student at New York Film Academy. She was excitedly showing the pictures that she took earlier that day but when Rachel hit the first note, her breath caught in her throat and her hands suddenly started shaking. She turned slowly to look at the singer on the stage, hoping against hope that it was not her, but when she saw that it was Rachel, a myriad of emotions flashed over her face. She wanted to run away but she also wanted to stay. She knew that she had to leave now if she wanted to be undetected but her body didn't seem want to budge.

Rachel was scanning the room while she was singing. She always loved to gage the audience's reaction. Smaller crowds like this made it easier for her to see everyone's faces, unlike the big Broadway theatre. Everyone was mesmerized by her singing that she decided to put even more emotions into it, even when she was not really thinking of anyone while she was singing that song. When her eyesight reached the counter, the first thing she saw was that familiar blonde hair and hazel eyes; the eyes that she had not seen for almost 7 years; the same eyes that were currently staring at her. She almost lost her cue but she recovered quickly enough before anyone could take notice. She was a professional Broadway performer after all. But now she could not take her eyes off her, afraid that if she did she would disappear again. She wanted to make sure that this was real. Without realizing it, she was singing the final verse to Quinn, "I am lost, I am vain, I will never be the same, without you, without you, without you." As soon as she finished the last note, even though the music was still playing, she quickly got off the stage, solely focused on getting to her and ignoring all the clapped and shouted of 'encore' from the crowd.

Quinn knew that this was the moment for her to make her getaway, as Rachel was busy traversing through the crowd, but in that moment of hesitation, Rachel reached her side. They both just stood there looking at each other. Rachel moved for a hug and Quinn almost stepped back but she returned the hug anyway. They lingered for a bit until Rachel released her.

"What are you doing here? Where have you been?" Rachel asked excitedly but also exasperatedly.

"You know how I can't resist amateur singing," Quinn said playfully which made Rachel laughed. Quinn was fidgeting, so she blurted out, "Can I get you some coffee?"

"Ooh, you mentioned the keyword…'coffee'," Rachel perked up even more. There was something about being in Quinn's presence that made her feel so energized. And there was something about Rachel's demeanor that made Quinn relaxed, at least for a bit.

"So what would you like?"

"Can I please have an espresso?"

"Sure. Hi Amy, one espresso and one mocha please?"

Quinn sat back and Rachel joined her.

"So what happened to you? Last time when I tried to call you, it said that your number's no longer valid," Rachel asked eagerly.

"Oh, sorry about that, crazy ex-boyfriend," Quinn said with a tone that told her to leave it at that. Rachel wanted to push further but maybe it was too early to scare Quinn off, so she just pursed her lips.

"But why did you stop calling me? Or texting me? Or emailing me? Or even see me? I think the last time I heard from you was when we're in our third year in college."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, but … I don't know Rachel. I guess we both just got busy with our own lives."

"I suppose. Yeah, I remember, third year was insane! I can't even remember who sent the last email, or even whose turn to reply. But hey, it doesn't matter now. I found you again," Rachel was beaming again.

Quinn wanted to say something but the words stuck in her throat, so she only said, "Yeah," with a barely there smile, but Rachel chose to ignore it. Their coffee arrived in time to break the sudden tension, so they decided to focus on sipping their coffees instead.

Rachel broke the tension, "Well, tell me what you've been up to? Are you living in the city or you're here just for a visit? Or how long have you lived here? Are you acting now? Oh my god, is that purple streak on your hair?"

"Woah Rachel, slow down."

"Oops, sorry, you know how I get when I'm too excited." That made Quinn smiled.

"Yeah, something's never change, kind of comforting that way." Quinn suddenly got quiet, as if she was reminiscing the past, but Rachel was still waiting for her answer.

"So?"

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah, I live around here."

"You've lived in New York all this time and you didn't try to find me?"

"How am I supposed to find you?"

"I don't know, like call me for example. I haven't changed my number you know," Rachel said sarcastically.

"Sorry, I lost your number. I dropped my phone in the water and lost all the numbers."

"Well, you could have asked … somebody. I don't know. Don't you keep in touch with anyone?"

"I do keep in touch with Santana and Brittany, and Puck, of course."

"How come you didn't lose their numbers?" Rachel was pouting.

Quinn couldn't help but laugh, "We exchanged emails."

"Aha, you could have emailed me!"

"I …" Quinn knew that she's out of excuses, "Yeah, you got me there. I'm sorry Rachel. I know I should have but it just … didn't feel right at the time."

"Why?"

"I … I don't know. Listen, can we just drop this? There's no point of rehashing the past, pointing out all the things that we could have done. There's nothing we can do to change them."

"Yeah, you're right. Besides I have you here now," Rachel was beaming again. Quinn didn't know how to respond to this. Being this close to Rachel and having Rachel acting this way made her almost dizzy, so she decided to make a run for it.

"Hey, I have to wake up early tomorrow, so I got to call it a night."

"Oh, okay," Rachel sounded disappointed.

"Who are you here with anyway?" Quinn wondered out loud.

"I came here with some friends. Would you like to meet them?" Rachel sounded eager to introduce her friends.

"Umm … not now, I'm really beat." Quinn was not ready for any of this.

"Oh, okay," again with the disappointed tone.

Quinn's feeling of discomfort returned, so she just asked the first thing that came to mind, "Where are you living now?"

"A few blocks away from Central Park. You should visit one day. Hey, can I have your number?" Rachel blurted out, her eyes full of expectation.

"Umm … sure, it's …." and Quinn gave her number while Rachel entered it into her phone straight away. She typed something in her phone and Quinn's phone beeped.

"That's me. Now you have my number too. At least I know it's your real number, so you can't run away from me now Quinn Fabray," Rachel smiled.

"And why would you think that I'm running away from you Rachel Berry?" Quinn's playful tone and her patented eyebrow raised completely took Rachel by surprise that it got her flabbergasted. Quinn quickly changed the subject, and besides she really had to leave. "Hey, it's really nice to bump into you." She gave Rachel a brief hug, "Well, I gotta go. Good night!"

"Good night."

She quickly left the café.

Rachel stood staring at the door that Quinn had just walked out of. It took her a few minutes to recompose herself and she felt completely dissatisfied with how things ended that she had to text Quinn straight away.

**Would you be free for lunch tomorrow? Or dinner, whichever works for you.**

Quinn was about to open her apartment's door when she received the text. She was trying not to think too much about what just happened. Her thoughts were all so jumbled up; she knew it would be a long sleepless night tonight. She stood still in front of her apartment. In one hand, she had half the key in the door while the other was holding her phone. She read the text over and over again. She felt compelled to just delete it and ignored everything that just happened, but just like before when her brain was telling her to do something, her heart would make her do something else.

She replied: **Sure. How about RSVP at Thompson St at 12.30 pm?**

Rachel grinned when she got the text and replied: **See you at 12.30.**

She went back to her friends feeling like the high school Rachel all over again; thrilled that Quinn, the pretty blonde cheerleader, was giving her the attention that she craved.


	2. Part 2

**PART 2**

Rachel was early to the restaurant. It was not that she was that eager to see Quinn again, it was just that she wanted to make sure that she wasn't late. Oh well, who was she kidding, she was _that_ eager to see Quinn. She walked 62 blocks to get there from her place. It took about 1 hour and 10 minutes. But it was a good day for a walk, and it gave her a lot of time to think. Even though she just met Quinn last night, it felt like this was going to be their first meeting after 7 years. She tried to calm herself by drinking coffee, but by the time Quinn arrived, she was in her third cup of coffee and that made her jittery.

Quinn's purple highlight looked even more pronounced under the sunlight. She looked absolutely divine but with a bit of wickedness. Rachel felt her heart skipped a beat but beating even faster afterwards as if trying to make up for that missed beat. She was pretty sure it was the coffee and not Quinn, or so she hoped. They exchanged a brief "Hi" and an awkward hug. The air felt thick suddenly, so Rachel broke the tension by asking, "So what's good here?" while looking at the menu.

"You should try the PB&J Pancake, it's the specialty. Wait, are you still vegan?"

"Not strictly now. I'm surprised you remember."

"How could I not?! Every time we went out, you always tried to 'educate' the waiters what vegan was, as if they didn't know. So, it's kind of imprinted in my brain," Quinn said mockingly.

"Well, I just want to be sure that the waiters were paying attention."

"Rachel, with all your demands, I think everyone was paying attention."

"Hmph," Rachel had no reply, so she just crossed her arms and pouted.

Quinn gave an amused laugh because Rachel was acting like a 5-year old; it was a funny look for someone who was 27. "So would you like that pancake?"

"Yes please," Rachel answered cutely. Quinn wasn't sure what to make of this sudden change in mood, but then Rachel was always the drama queen.

Quinn ordered the food and they proceeded to have small talks, about the restaurant, Soho, the city and other little things, nothing of essence. They continued the small talk for a bit more when the food arrived. Then Rachel asked the question that she didn't get the answer for last night.

"So what are you doing now?"

"I'm a painter."

"Wow, you're a painter," Rachel was impressed.

"Among other things, sometimes I would do photography too."

"What happened to acting?"

"I tried that for a bit, acted in some small theaters but my heart wasn't into it. I was also painting on the side and managed to get some cafés to showcase my artwork. Then people started buying and I got request to do some art work for offices and cafes and I thought that I could make a living off this. And that's how it all started."

"That's pretty cool. I always knew you have all that pent up energy that you need to channel somewhere," Rachel said teasingly. "So are you working on anything at the moment?"

"Yeah, I have an art show with some other New York artist in a few months' time. Also there's this mural that I have to design for a café."

"Can I see your paintings?" Rachel said abruptly.

Quinn hesitated with the answer, but Rachel had a very pleading look that she just couldn't say no, "Sure."

"Can I seem them after this?"

"You sure are demanding." Rachel gave that patented pout. Quinn thought that it should be banned. "Sure," she said with a sigh. "Well, what about you?"

"I was performing in Broadway for a few years. My first big role was in Wicked, then last year I played the main role in Mamma Mia, but currently I'm taking a break to record my album," Rachel replied excitedly.

"That's wonderful Rachel. I always knew you belong in the spotlight."

"Yeah, it's wonderful, isn't it? Here we are, two girls from Lima, Ohio, making it big in New York City."

"Yeah," Quinn gave Rachel a small smile.

"Wait! If you've been living here all these years, surely you have at least seen some Broadway shows."

"Umm, yes …" Quinn answered nervously.

"Then didn't you know I was in them?"

Quinn couldn't pretend anymore, so she confessed, "Actually I did. I saw both your shows."

"You did! You could have seen me after the show!"

"I didn't want to intrude."

"But you wouldn't. You could have told them you're my old school mates; I would have let you in. Last time Mr Schue & Miss Pillsbury came to see my show. I guess I should call them Mr & Mrs Schue. But anyway, they had such a great time. I was showing them the backstage and everything. They love it!" Rachel was talking animatedly. "So what did you think of my performance?"

Quinn felt cornered, "I think you're amazing," she almost stammered. It felt like she was revealing too much, so she changed the subject. "So what kind of songs will be in your album?"

"It's a bit of pop-rock with some powerful ballads."

"I thought you only sing show tunes." Quinn said jokingly. "So who's writing the songs?"

"I wrote some of the songs and there is some collaboration with other writers. I'm not sure yet which ones that'll make into the album."

"Do you have the album title yet?"

"I think 'Rachel Berry' will just drive the point home, don't you think? What better name than my name, right?" Rachel laughed.

"Yeah," Quinn said smiling. "Well, I can't wait to hear it."

"It's a bit nerve wrecking. Broadway's easy, you know people will come to see the show, but with albums, it's a whole new world. Sometimes I wish I never said yes."

"Don't worry Rachel, I'm sure it'll be awesome, and it will do just fine."

"I hope so too. I have some samples if you would like to listen to them sometime?"

"Oh … okay, sure." It was like Rachel already planned for future meetings and Quinn was uncomfortable with this.

After they finished their lunch, Rachel timidly asked again, "So if you're not that busy now, is it okay for me to see your paintings?"

Quinn was hoping that she wouldn't remember it, or that Rachel had something else to do, or she could have made up some stories of having to go somewhere but no stories came out, only a simple "Sure."

They walked a few blocks to Quinn's apartment; it was a loft that was part living space, part workspace, and part gallery. It reminded Rachel of The Humphrey's place in Gossip Girl. _Maybe it is the same place, but isn't that in Brooklyn_? she thought. She didn't voice it out though, but instead she twirled around and said, "This place is amazing!" Then she noticed, "Oh My God! You even have a keyboard and a drum set. Are you forming a band or something?" She asked jokingly.

Quinn laughed, "No, they kind of help with the creative process. Besides sometimes it felt good to just bang on things, you know," she smirked.

"Do you still sing?"

"Not in public."

"I would love to hear you sing sometime. I do like your voice."

"Didn't you once tell me that I was pitchy?"

"It's because you lacked professional training, which I can help you with, if you're interested."

"Thanks Rachel, but I think I'll leave the singing to you."

"But maybe we can sing together some time," Rachel said with hopeful tone.

"I … I'm not sure about that," Rachel gave that puppy dog face again, "I'll think about it." _Seriously, that look should be banned!_

Rachel turned to the side and saw the section of the apartment that Quinn had transformed to be her workspace/gallery area. There were a few paintings on the wall, some were on the floor and leaning against the wall, stacking on each other and some were still on the easels, the ones that Quinn were working on.

Rachel looked at some of the paintings and she was in awe, she never knew that Quinn could make this beautiful work of art. "Quinn, these are amazing! I know I've been using that word a lot, but you are." Quinn felt her cheek redden but luckily Rachel didn't notice it. "Are they all for sale?"

"Some of them."

"Can I go through them?"

Thinking that they were all 'safe-for-Rachel's-eyes', she didn't hesitate to say yes. Rachel went through each of them slowly, admiring and appreciating, as if she was an art critic, but she had nothing to criticize except giving the look of awe. Quinn stood on the side, following Rachel's movement with her eyes. She didn't know how to process everything that was happening right now. It was too much having Rachel in her apartment and going through her paintings. She was just glad that not all of them were in the living room.

Rachel was currently going through the paintings that were leaning against the wall, talking excitedly about each of them, occasionally looking at Quinn, but as she was going through one of the paintings, she stopped abruptly and just stared at it.

Quinn wondered what could have made Rachel stopped talking and went to her side. Only then she realized that Rachel was looking at a painting that she thought she had put aside somewhere, or maybe she thought that it would be safe there because she never thought that one day Rachel would be looking at it.

It was a painting of Rachel. She was sitting alone on their high-school bleacher. She was looking down but you could still see her face and she looked sad. She was wearing a red coat and black plaid skirt. The cloudy blue sky was behind her and she looked so small against such backdrop.

Quinn felt temper rising in her, she felt angry at herself for being so careless, and angry at Rachel because she had no business looking at this. She wished that she could kick Rachel out of her apartment, or maybe she could run away from the apartment, or maybe she could ...

While she was busy thinking of an escape plan, she chanced a glance at Rachel and it soften her demeanor. Rachel looked shocked but flattered and she was smiling softly.

"Quinn, when did you paint this?" Rachel turned to look at Quinn, her face full of confusion.

"Sophomore year," Quinn answered softly.

"Oh. When was this?" Pointing at it, wondering when Quinn had taken this mental picture.

"It's during one of the Cheerios practices. I noticed you were sitting there looking so sad and gloomy, but yet everything around you was bright and cheery. It's such a beautiful contrast. When I went home, I felt like I had to save that moment. I don't know. It's just something about that moment that intrigued me. The whole thing looked sad and beautiful."

"I wish you've shown me this before."

"Paintings have always been personal to me. It's not something that I was willing to share before."

"This is absolutely beautiful. You managed to make me look pretty," then she added, "It's such an improvement over those pornographic pictures," Rachel said teasingly. The memory made Quinn blushed. Rachel felt like teasing Quinn even more, but decided against it. "Can I buy this?"

"No!" Quinn said looking incredulously at Rachel.

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"But it's my picture."

"And it's my painting."

"Why do you want to keep it anyway?"

"Because I love this painting," that caught Rachel off guard. "I'm sorry. You can take any other paintings here but not this one, okay?" Rachel almost pouted but then Quinn added, "Oh, not those ones too because they're for the art show."

Rachel was about to say something but her phone rang. She left Quinn to pick up the call and came back a few minutes later.

"I'm sorry I have to go. I have to attend a meeting soon. Thank you for showing me around. I really love what you have here. You're really talented Quinn. I really wish I've known this about you before," Rachel sounded regretful, "But I have to go now."

"Okay."

"Can I see you again? I mean maybe we can do this again sometime."

"I … yeah, sure."

"Okay, I …" Rachel felt disheartened to leave. "Well, bye." Rachel gave Quinn a quick hug before she left.

After Rachel left, Quinn gave out a loud sigh. She couldn't believe that she had completely forgotten that the painting was there and she couldn't believe that Rachel saw it. Never in her life had she thought that one day Rachel would see it. She slumped to the floor. She shouldn't be so weak to say yes to everything that Rachel demanded. Even after all this time, she still couldn't resist her.


	3. Part 3

**PART 3**

Rachel, ever the eager one, texted Quinn early the next day asking: **Hi! What are you up to this weekend?** She tried to sound nonchalant, just like normal friends do, asking the other friend what they were up to. There was nothing to it. Not like she just saw a painting of her just the day before, painted more than a decade ago by her sworn enemy at that time. She was sure that was pretty normal, lots of enemies do that. And she was pretty sure that if she repeated that many times, she would believe it. Oh well. She didn't want to think too much on the implication of it all. She didn't want to freak Quinn out even more by asking too many questions; she saw just how bothered Quinn was yesterday. But as the hours passed by, she got more and more agitated because Quinn still hadn't replied. She busied herself with other things that she had been putting on hold, like reading and replying her fanmails. She might not be movie star famous, but she surely had some dedicated fans. She was pretty engrossed with some of the letters that she almost jumped when her phone beeped. Quinn finally replied, and only then that she realized that it was almost midnight! Quinn said that she didn't check her phone the whole day because she was busy painting. Rachel chose to believe her. Although she was kind of broken hearted that Quinn didn't ask her what her plan was that weekend. In fact, Quinn didn't even answer her question. She did say she was busy painting. So she decided to give Quinn some space before she texted her again.

Quinn wasn't entirely lying; she was very busy with her work. There were still a few more paintings that she needed to complete before the art show. It was not like she could just paint one after the other, she needed inspiration and concentration, and this whole Rachel thing made it very hard to concentrate. On top of that, she also had that mural for the café to design. But it did keep her busy enough not to dwell too much on the recent events. It got a bit harder when her mind wandered to the past though, the past that she had spent too many years trying to forget, or at least not to put too much thought on. She only replied Rachel text later that night because she couldn't sleep, all the guilt gnawed her mind, and she felt as if her brain was going to explode. Right after she replied the text, she fell into an almost peaceful sleep.

Rachel was busy in the next few days with writing and recording her songs. On top of that, she also had a lot of meetings with Broadway producers and directors. She wanted to do more Broadway but she really needed to focus on her album at the moment. There were also meetings with her album producer and the record label. It looked like they suddenly wanted her to go in a different direction than what was initially planned. They wanted her to be more 'Katy Perry' when she wanted to be more 'Adele/Kelly Clarkson'. She was tired of arguing with them, so she really needed to write more songs to prove that she could make good music that didn't require her to sell out.

She texted Quinn again on Thursday, she was a bit anxious by then. She wanted to text Quinn earlier, but she didn't want to smother her. She had been thinking of things that required Quinn to reply and she thought of a painting that really caught her eyes, apart from 'that painting', obviously. It was an abstract painting of blue and red color that sort of fighting for dominance in the middle. Somehow that painting felt like it meant something more to her, but she couldn't really point out what it was. She texted Quinn saying that she would like to purchase it, but Quinn only replied a few hours later saying that she could buy it if she was sure of it, because that painting was supposed to go to a gallery next week to be sold off. Rachel replied saying that she was sure that she wanted to buy it and asked for the price. When Quinn replied that it was going to cost her $10,000, she almost choked on her salad, but she couldn't back down now. She hoped her accountant would like her new hobby, collecting art. She asked Quinn if she could come see the painting again, to make the proper arrangement for the money transfer and everything else, and that maybe if she could come by on Saturday. But Quinn said that she would be out of town this weekend and would only be back next week, so Rachel could only come by the Saturday after. It was going to be a long wait; Rachel had no choice but to agree.

It was a long arduous wait, Rachel felt like she was losing her mind. She didn't text Quinn the whole time, and Quinn was quiet too. She finally texted Quinn on Friday afternoon, the day before the planned meet, so that they could agree on time. They planned to meet at 2pm. But when she woke up on Saturday afternoon, she had to text Quinn again wondering if they could postpone it to 4pm. Luckily Quinn said okay.

Rachel arrived at Quinn's apartment a bit after 4pm. She hoped she looked presentable. She had to wear those big sunglasses because her eyes were pretty sensitive to light at the moment. Quinn let her into the apartment block after she buzzed, so now she was knocking slowly on Quinn's door. It was like she didn't have the energy to do anything. When Quinn opened the door, Rachel walked straight in, as if this was a norm for them. Quinn was shocked and a bit miffed by Rachel's attitude; her hand was still on the doorknob, still holding the door open. Rachel plopped on the couch looking like a spoiled celebrity.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Quinn was very annoyed and hoping that Rachel noticed, but instead Rachel smiled and said,

"Do you have coffee?"

Quinn closed the door and walked closer. "Would you like latte, mocha, cappuccino, espresso?" still with the annoyed tone.

"Ooh, espresso please," Rachel was either completely oblivious or chose to ignore it. Quinn gave a small huff, rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen to make some coffee. A few minutes later she gave Rachel a cup of coffee. Rachel took a sip and instantly perked up, "Oh My God! This is so good. Where did you get this coffee Quinn?"

"It's from a café in Soho, it's Cuban roasted."

"This is so good Quinn. I think I shall be drinking lots of coffee over here," she hinted.

"Or I can show you where you can buy it."

"But I can never make coffee as good as you." _That pout again_, Quinn just rolled her eyes.

"So what happened to you?"

"I'll tell you later. Oh, by the way, I brought over a sample of my song. Would you like to listen to it?"

"Sure."

Rachel passed the cd and Quinn was about to put the cd on when Rachel noticed Quinn's sound system. "You sure have expensive taste," then she added playfully, "well, with the amount you're charging your painting, surely then."

"That's already with 'friend's' discount," Quinn played along, "but Rachel," she added with a serious tone, "you don't have to buy it, or I can offer other painting. It's just that that one won some awards."

"Oh, are you sure you want to sell it then?"

"Yes, it's always my intention."

"Okay. Besides I'm going to hang it in my apartment. So you can always look at it when you come over." _There she goes again, already making plan for the future_, Quinn thought. She wouldn't catch this bait. Quinn played the cd so that they could change the subject. Rachel noticed Quinn's behavior and decided to change the subject too, "This is called 'Losing My Heart'," she said while taking off her sunglasses and making herself more comfortable on the couch.

"What is it about?"

"Erm … I think the title says it all," Rachel said sarcastically.

Quinn gave a small laugh, "Who's it about then?"

Rachel seemed taken aback by the question, "It's … erm … about some people, no one in particular. Well, I guess it doesn't matter, let's just listen, will you?"

"So you've lost your heart to _that_ many people?" Quinn said jokingly.

Rachel just tightened her lips and tried not to smile. The song started and Quinn sat on the couch furthest from Rachel, trying to listen to the lyrics and not looking at her. It had always been a problem for her to keep her emotion in check every time she heard Rachel sings. It was a beautiful slow song with an up tempo beat that didn't make it sound whiny and draggy. After the song ended, the room was quiet. Rachel was waiting for Quinn to say something.

"It's beautiful Rachel. I love it," Quinn said softly.

Rachel was beaming, "Thank you. Well, that's the only song completed so far. It's a very slow process. It's so frustrating."

"Are you going back to Broadway after this?"

"Yes, I would love to. But right now, this is my dream. What about you? What's your dream?"

Quinn stumbled to answer that. "Erm … I think I've gotten all that I dream of."

"Well, you didn't sound so sure."

"It's just that it's not every day for someone to ask you about your dream. Honestly, I didn't think much of it."

"But don't you want to make sure that you have your dreams in check?"

"What's the point if it's going to disappoint you in the end?"

"You sure are an optimist, aren't you?" Rachel said sarcastically.

Quinn laughed at that. Suddenly Rachel thinking out loud said, "Hey, it's Saturday night! I'm sorry; I don't want to keep you. You might have plans or something."

"Oh no, I'm not going out tonight. Don't you have plans?"

"Not tonight. I'm still beat from last night?"

"What were you up to last night?" Quinn's curious piqued, remembering Rachel's state when she walked in.

"It was insane! The three of us were out for drinks, kind of bar hopping, and somehow we ended up at this S&M club at some point, I can't even remember how I got there, or how I even managed to get home. I was just glad I woke up in my bed," then added, "alone," while looking at Quinn.

"Oh." Quinn gulped.

Rachel laughed at Quinn's reaction, "What kind of girl do you think I am, Quinn?" Quinn looked confused. "Well, I'm not that kind of girl," she iterated. "We were just having a farewell sort of thing for one of my friends who are going to start touring Asia Pacific soon. She's going to play Christine in Phantom. We did go out last night and had some drinks and did end up at an S&M club and I did have a major hangover this morning. Thank God for Kurt's remedies, works like a charm."

Quinn was relieved to hear this but she didn't want Rachel to notice it, so she quickly asked, "So how's Kurt?"

"He's great. He lives just a few blocks away from me and he's working for Vogue now."

"So he's not doing Broadway?"

"No, he falls in love with fashion instead."

"Is he still with Blaine?"

"God No! Quinn, you really have not been keeping in touch. They broke up again some time in my third year. Blaine cheated on him, again. What is wrong with that boy?" Quinn wondered the same thing too.

"What about other people? Who do you keep in touch with?"

"Hmm, come to think of it, I don't really keep in touch with all of them, just simple messages in Facebook. Are you not in Facebook at all?" Rachel looked at Quinn questioningly, but Quinn just shook her head. "Oh, Mercedes will visit us whenever she's in town."

"I know. I'd meet up with her too."

"You what?! All this time when Mercedes was visiting us, she's visiting you too?!" Rachel putting things together, "Oh, so you're the other friend that she has in New York."

"Yeah, believe me, she's not happy having to lie to both of you."

"Why were you so determined about not wanting us to know that you're in New York?"

"I … I just … I don't know," Quinn sounded tired, so Rachel didn't push further. One day she would find out, one way or another. "What about Finn?" Quinn asked suddenly.

"Hmm, what about Finn?"

"Do you guys still keep in touch?"

"We exchanged emails once in a while. Oh, did you know, he just got a baby girl a few months back."

"Oh, wow! Erm … Sorry about that," Quinn was worried that Rachel might be sad about it.

"Why? It's ancient history. I've had _so_ many other boyfriends after him."

"Oh."

"Haha, not really," Rachel found Quinn's confused look amusing, "just two. You've met one of them."

"Yeah, I like him."

"What?!" Rachel looked at Quinn incredulously, "You hated him! You only met him once and all you did is arguing with him."

"I was … annoyed that night, and he's just … so charming. What's his name again?"

"Derrick."

"Yeah, I think he's good for you, not an idiot like Finn and not cocky like Brody. So what happened to him?"

"Oh, you're going to make me regret for letting him go, aren't you?"

"No! I'm just saying."

"He's around, I think. We're not in touch. I'm still friends with his brother, so once in a while I'll get news from him." Rachel was quiet for a bit, and then continued, "He proposed you know?"

"Oh."

"Yeah, right after graduation dinner. We're all walking in Central Park; luckily my dads were way in front. He pulled me aside and proposed right in front of the fountain," Rachel had a somber look, but she continued, "It was really sweet, a perfect proposal, but I told him I couldn't give the answer then. He waited patiently for my answer, he never pressured me. I felt really guilty for making him wait. I told him that I can't. I felt like my life, life after college, was just about to start, that I have all these dreams to chase, and I couldn't or I wasn't ready to be someone's wife. He's actually fine with that, he said he could wait. So we're still dating after that, even living together, but I knew I was just stringing him along. He didn't deserve that and I … ended it," Rachel's eyes were brimming with tears at that point.

Quinn moved to Rachel's side and hugged her, "I'm sorry Rachel."

Rachel hugged back but she broke the hug to look at Quinn and said, "Don't be. I'm not. It's the right thing to do, for both of us."

The air between them felt thick all of a sudden, maybe because of Quinn's sudden closeness to Rachel, so Rachel continued her story.

"Then there was Jacob. Nothing serious, that only lasted a few months."

"So where's the current one?"

"There's no current one. I broke up with Jacob more than a year ago."

"Rachel Berry without a man for more than a year! That's shocking!" Quinn said playfully.

"Haha. I don't need a man to define me, thank you very much, unlike some people," Rachel retorted.

"What? Are you talking about me?" Quinn said mockingly, and they both laughed.

A few minutes passed, and then Rachel asked, "Well, what about you?"

"I have no time for romance," Quinn said matter-of-factly.

"Oh yeah, you're an artist, married to your art," Rachel said jokingly.

Quinn laughed but said, "No, I'm serious. Relationship is too much for me to handle right now. Or maybe it's just not the right time … or the right people."

"Yeah, maybe," they both got pretty quiet. Rachel broke the sudden tension again, "So what do you want to do tonight then?"

"Dinner and a movie?"

"Ooh, it's a date!" Rachel answered too excitedly, "I mean … okay."

Quinn didn't say anything but just gave her a funny look.


	4. Part 4

**PART 4**

**Note: If you haven't watched 'Imagine Me & You', this will spoiled the movie for you. But you should have seen the movie by now :-)**

Quinn was currently picking up the pizza from Lombardi's, a pizza place that was a few blocks from her apartment. She claimed that was the best pizza place in NYC, but Rachel totally disagreed with her. She hadn't said that yet because she had never had this pizza. Just like Quinn had never eaten at Mariella Pizza and Rachel was pretty sure that was the best pizza in NYC. She would know soon enough who was right.

She was using that time to look over the painting that she wanted to buy. Quinn had given her the certificate for the painting which was called 'Duet/Duel'. Rachel thought that was pretty interesting. She needed to ask Quinn about that later. Since Quinn wasn't around, she decided to look for her painting again. She wondered what Quinn named that. But she couldn't find it where she last saw it, and she couldn't find it anywhere else either, so Quinn must have moved it. She wondered why Quinn would do that. She didn't dare to go inside Quinn's bedroom; she didn't want to get caught snooping around. So she went back to the living room and gave herself a tour because she never got the chance to properly look at everything before. On the wall, there was a photo collage of a little girl. There were photos for every birthday and there were 10 of them. It warmed Rachel's heart to know that Quinn was still in touch with Beth but that made her wondered about Shelby. And that was the moment that Quinn walked into the apartment carrying the pizza.

"Hey! Would you like wine to go with this?" Quinn asked.

"Sure."

"I hope you like Chianti." Quinn set the pizza on the table and went to the kitchen to grab the wine, some plates and glasses. Then they both settled in the middle couch. Rachel took one bite of the pizza and she took back whatever she said before. Quinn was right; this was the best pizza in NYC.

"Beth's so adorable. She looks more and more like you," Rachel said while pointing to the photos on the wall.

Quinn beamed when she heard that, "Yeah, she is an amazing girl. Actually I just came back from celebrating her birthday in Disneyland."

"Oh, so that's where you went off to. Is she living in LA?"

"Yeah, they moved there a few years ago. Shelby got a job teaching music at a school there," Quinn noticing Rachel's sad face when she mentioned Shelby quickly added, "I'm sorry. Are you okay with me mentioning her name?"

"Oh yes, it's fine. Shelby and I are in friendly terms. We exchanged Christmas/Hanukkah cards every year. And she never forgets my birthday. She even came to see my show once. Isn't it funny how our lives are all intertwined?"

"Yeah, it sure is," Quinn was quiet for a bit, "So how much do you know about her?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, do you know that she's married to Puck?"

"What?! Oh My God! That's so weird!" Rachel almost jumped off the couch.

Quinn laughed, "Yeah, it was a bit weird in the beginning when I found out that they're seeing each other again. I think I was more surprised that Puck wanted to settle down that young, being Puck and all. But Puck really loves her. And it's a very big plus with Beth being there. I even went to their wedding. Beth was the flower girl."

"When did they get married?"

"Six years ago. He decided to celebrate his 21st by getting married."

"That boy really surprises you some time." They both laughed at that. "So how do you feel about all that?"

"I think it's great! It's perfect for all of us. Beth got her dad and her two moms. I mean, after everything that happened, Shelby still let me be part of her life," Rachel squeezed Quinn's knee at that. Quinn smiled, "I always celebrate her birthdays and Christmas with them. Sometimes my mom will join us for Christmas. We have become quite an interesting family. She would even spend some school holidays with me."

"I'm happy that everything turns out well for you," Rachel said softly. Rachel really was happy for Quinn, even though she was a bit jealous that Quinn got to see Shelby more than her. She shook her head because it was kind of a crazy thought. She decided to change the subject. "How about Brittany and Santana, are they still together?"

"Yeah, they are. After that break they had after graduation, I think they both realized that they can't live without each other."

Rachel smiled at that. She heard the stories, about the whole Santana/Brittany/Sam thing. It was a bit odd when she first heard that Brittany was dating Sam. She thought that Sam was so in love with Mercedes. She just didn't understand how two people that claimed to love each other very much to give up so easily. Wouldn't that just cheapen the whole meaning of love? _Do people just throw out 'I love yous like it means nothing anymore?_ Or maybe she was too old school when it came to love. She believed that if you have found that one person that you were in love with, your one true love, you would move heaven and earth to be with them. Shouldn't love be that dramatic? Actually she was more surprised that Santana broke up with Brittany after everything that she went through in their senior year. Yes, long distance was hard. She tried it with Finn for a while and that didn't work out. But then she wasn't in love with Finn as much as Santana was in love with Brittany. Well, she was happy that they were together again.

"Hey, are you okay?" Quinn was waving her hand in front of Rachel.

"Hmm? Oh sorry, I was just thinking about something. So where are they now?"

"Touring, can you believe that? They're both touring with Beyonce, Santana's the back-up singer and Brittany's the back-up dancer. And when the tour's over, Beyonce's going to help produce Santana's album."

"Wow, that's great! Hmm, Mercedes is recording an album too. I hope we're not all releasing them at the same time," Rachel laughed nervously.

"Don't worry Rachel. I'm sure all of you will do well."

"I hope so." Rachel suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah, why did you name the painting 'Duet/Duel'?"

"Oh, it's something that Mr. Schue said. That's where the inspiration comes from."

"Ha? What did he say?"

"Do you remember when he made that duet competition, the one that you sang that horrendous song with Finn?"

Rachel laughed, "Oh yeah, I remember that, the one that you won."

"Yeah, I still wasn't sure how," Quinn wondered. "Anyway, he said something about duet is like a great marriage, they complement each other. So the blue and red, even though they're very different, they complement each other nicely, but the difference also makes them constantly dueling for dominance."

"That's lovely. And I can't believe that you actually paid attention to what Mr. Schue said," they both laughed. "Hey do you remember when we're singing 'I Feel Pretty/Unpretty'? Weren't you wearing blue and I was wearing red?"

"So you don't remember what Mr. Schue said but you remember what we wore?" Rachel just shrugged. Quinn decided to change the subject, "So what movie should we watch? Do you want to see my movie collection or Netflix it?"

"Do you have movie channels? Let's check that out first."

"Yeah," Quinn passed Rachel the remote, "you pick a movie."

Rachel browsed the movie channels and saw a movie was about to start, it was called 'Imagine Me & You'.

"Have you seen 'Imagine Me & You'?"

"No, what's it about?"

"I don't know. But I remember my friend suggested that I watch it because the main character's name is Rachel too, and she said that I'll love this movie, not sure why."

"Hmm, so that's why you want to watch it, just based on the character's name? Okay, let's watch that. I hope it's not crappy. I'm going to turn off the lights. Is that okay?"

"Yeah."

Quinn turned off the lights and she noticed that Rachel looked like she was a bit chilly, so she draped her with a throw rug and got under it as well, which means that she had to sit closer to Rachel.

"Thanks," Rachel was touched by Quinn's action.

The movie started and based on the opening scene, it looked like a comedy. Quinn was happy with that; she didn't need any more drama.

"Hey, isn't that the Queen in Game of Thrones?" Quinn said when the scene was showing a girl loading the car with flowers.

"Yeah, I hope she's not evil here."

"Oh, so that's Rachel," Quinn said when they mentioned Rachel's name and saw that she was the bride.

"Hey, that's Giles!" They both laughed. Quinn was impressed that Rachel knew who Giles was. She didn't look like the kind that watched Buffy. "I love British accent." Quinn agreed on that. "The groom's cute, but the best man's gross." Quinn laughed.

Suddenly Quinn got a funny vibe when she saw the florist exchanged look with the bride. But she was married now, so maybe that was nothing. Besides Rachel and Hec looked like they were really good for each other and they really loved each other.

"You think Luce is going to fall for Hec?" Rachel asked.

"Maybe," although Quinn doubted it, and later on she realized that she was right because Luce said that she was gay.

"Oh, she's gay, I guess she's not going after Hec."

Quinn felt uncomfortable when they used the 'L' word. She glanced at Rachel and it looked like she was engrossed in the movie. Quinn looked at the screen and saw that something was going on between Rachel and Luce. _What have I gotten myself into, watching this movie with Rachel? I can't leave now, it's my place. I can't stop the movie, that will be too weird. It's okay, relax, just continue watching the movie, act as if this is not affecting you._

Rachel chuckled when the movie Rachel rented the porn movie, but Quinn was too tensed to laugh properly. She did laugh at some scenes but too many thoughts were going on in her brain.

_Why did Rachel want to go home when she saw Luce at the fireworks show?_

_Why did Rachel call Luce and hang up?_

_What's will all this touching? This is a bit uncomfortable. How's Rachel doing? _Quinn saw that Rachel was smiling when 'Luce' had her arms around 'Rachel'.

_The dancing's really cute, but nobody ever danced like that when they're playing that game._

_Oh oh, are they gonna kiss? Okay, that was close._

Quinn almost held her breath at that scene. She wanted to root for 'Rachel' and 'Luce' but Hec was such a nice guy, he didn't deserve this.

_OMG! They're kissing! _Quinn got really tensed again, she sat stiff like a board, afraid to look at Rachel but she noticed that Rachel shifted on the couch. Rachel looked tensed too, but thank God the scene didn't go on that long. Quinn needed to remember for next time to check the movie rating first. She really hoped there was no nudity here.

_Oh no, it's Hec. Again, why must he be so nice?_

_"I won't remember anything else." _Quinn felt a sense of longing in that sentence.

_It's so nice that she can talk about it with her mother._

_Oh oh, is she going to tell him?_

_He's willing to let her go? _

_"Follow your heart."_

_They're running towards each other, and more kissing._

_It's over. Thank God. But that is nice. Happy ending always is._

_If only it's that easy._

They both sat silently while watching the credit rolled for a while. Rachel broke the silence, "Hmm, that's an interesting movie. But it's pretty good. Do you like it?"

"Yeah, I think it's pretty good too. But if only it's that easy."

"What do you mean?" Rachel shifted to face Quinn.

"Well, she's in love with another girl and the family's all accepting. Even the guy's all okay with it," Quinn was facing Rachel too.

"Maybe sometimes it can be that easy."

Quinn scoffed, "Not in real life."

"My dads managed."

"They're the lucky ones."

"I guess you wouldn't know until you try."

"What are we talking about here?"

"Erm … the movie?"

"Yeah, I guess," Quinn looked deep in thought.

"Hec reminded me of Derrick," Rachel thought out loud.

"Yeah, I know."

"Too bad for him though, he's such a nice guy. Why can't they make him a jerk?"

"Because then it'll be too easy to root for the girls to be together."

"True. Do you want them to be together?" Rachel wondered.

"I want all of them to be happy. I guess in the end, it showed that all of them are okay."

"It'll be so much easier if there's no third party to complicate things, isn't it?"

"Yeah, especially when it's complicated enough."

"What would you do if you're Hec, would you let Rachel go that easily?"

"I'll be surprise if I know of anyone who's like that. But no. If I love someone that much, I'll fight for it."

"If you're Luce, would you just leave?"

"Isn't that the right thing to do? Rachel's married. I don't see any point of trying to stick around hoping for someone to leave the person they're married to and magically falls in love with you. It's better off this way for everyone."

"So you would prefer to run away than dealing with the problem?"

Quinn answered quickly, "Yes." After a moment, "What are we talking about here?"

"The movie, of course."

"Right."

Rachel felt Quinn's defenses were back up, so she said, "I better go home, it's pretty late." She got off the couch and grabbed her bag.

"Okay."

"Thanks for the pizza and wine and movie. This is nice."

"Yeah it is."

"So I'll get my accountant to contact you about the payment, and then we can arrange the transportation."

"Okay. Get your accountant to call me on Monday."

"Okay. Good night Quinn."

They exchanged a brief hug.

"Good night Rachel."


	5. Part 5

**PART 5**

Quinn received the call from Rachel's accountant, Jeremy, on Monday afternoon. He arranged for the payment and it was properly transferred the next day. Quinn gave Rachel a call to inform her that everything went well and that she would arrange for the transportation. She said that Rachel could either be in touch with the mover or she could come to Quinn's apartment to bring the mover to her place. Rachel said that she would come to Quinn's apartment and they agreed to have that done on Wednesday afternoon.

Rachel arrived the next day a bit earlier than planned, hoping to get some alone time with Quinn, but she was disappointed because the mover was already there. She wondered if Quinn wanted to come along.

"Hey! Do you want to come along? I can show you my place?" Rachel sounded eager.

"Sorry Rachel, but I have meetings with some clients right after this."

"Oh, it's okay, next time then," Rachel was a bit upset but Quinn had a valid reason.

"Yeah, maybe next time," Quinn replied nonchalantly.

The whole moving and hanging the painting on her wall went without a hitch. Both their lives went on, and there didn't seem to be any reason for them to be in touch that frequently.

* * *

Quinn just walked into her apartment, back from her Saturday morning run when her phone rang.

"Hello!"

"Hey Quinn, do you mind if I come over? I just wrote this song and I would really love to hear your opinion."

"Erm … yeah, sure. Just give me an hour okay?"

"Okay, see you then."

Rachel arrived exactly an hour later. Quinn had previously given her the code to enter the building when she came by to pick up the painting. Quinn figured it would be so much easier for Rachel to just let herself into the building. So currently Rachel was knocking on Quinn's door and Quinn opened it after a few knocks.

"Hi!"

"Hi! Come in," Quinn let Rachel in.

"So I wrote this song just this morning in one sitting," Rachel was waving the music sheet. "I really want to hear your honest opinion. Oh, can I use your keyboard?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Hmm, actually I think it's easier if I just sing and maybe you can help play?"

"Okay," Rachel handed Quinn the music sheet. "I'm a bit rusty at this." She played a few notes, "Is this right?"

"Yeah, that's perfect. Okay, let's start from the beginning."

Quinn played the notes and Rachel started singing. Quinn wanted to look at Rachel singing but she was trying hard to concentrate on playing the keyboard, but she did manage to pay attention to the song. After the song ended, Rachel was ecstatic.

"We sound great! We should start a band!"

"Rachel, we are not starting a band," Quinn was looking at her disbelievingly.

"Rainn. Oh no, I think there's already a Korean singer with that name. Ruinn. Hmm, sounds too much like 'ruin', that wouldn't last."

"Rachel, what are you on about?" Quinn was utterly confused.

"Our band name," she said to Quinn as if it was an obvious thing, and then she continued, "Quinchel. Nope, too close to Finchel. Berray. Urgh, sounds like 'beret'."

"We are NOT starting a band."

"I know, just let me fantasize for a bit more, okay? Faberry. FABERRY! That's it!"

"What?" Quinn looked at her funny.

"Faberry, that's our imaginary band name." Quinn laughed amusedly, Rachel really was adorable sometimes.

"Anyway," Quinn stressed the word, "I thought you wanted my opinion on the song."

"Oh yeah, so what do you think?"

"I think it is really good, it was fun and fresh. It should be a summer song. What's it called?"

"'Perfect Day'. Do you remember the last time you visited me in New York? That's what that song's about."

Oh yeah, how could Quinn ever forget that day. It was a perfect day, until …

*** 7 Years Ago ***

_They were in their third year of college and it was a week before Christmas. Rachel invited Quinn to celebrate Hanukkah with her and her dads but Quinn still had exams. Quinn could only come over a few days later so that she could spend a few days in New York before going back to Ohio for the winter break. Rachel wasn't going home to Lima because she wanted to celebrate the New Year in the city. Kurt had already left for Lima, so Rachel had the apartment all to herself. Quinn arrived on Thursday night, so they just had dinner and turned to bed early. They had big plans the next day. Even though Rachel had been living in New York for a while now, she had not visited all the touristy part, and even though Quinn had visited Rachel many times, they spent most of the times in Midtown area._

_The next day, they started the tour by taking the subway to Battery Park so that they could take the ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. After that they went to South Street Seaport, and then visited Ground Zero, walked through Chinatown and Little Italy, gawked at fancy shops in Fifth Avenue, spent a few hours in Met Museum, passed Times Square, through Central Park, and all the way to Columbia University on 116__th__ Street. All together, they probably walked about 200 blocks. _

_Rachel was instantly transfixed with the view of Butler Library the moment they walked through the Columbia University gates._

_ "Oh My God Quinn! This was where they shot 'The Mirror Has Two Faces'," she was so excited that she was almost shuffling._

_"What?" Quinn wanted to laugh at Rachel's behavior._

_"Have you not seen the movie?" Rachel turned to look at Quinn disbelievingly._

_"I've never even heard of it."_

_"That's it. We're watching it tomorrow." She turned around to look at the building again, then she started humming. "Come on Quinn, sing with me."_

_"What song?"_

_"'I Finally Found Someone', it's from the movie."_

_"I've never heard that song."_

_"Aww Quinn, you're missing a lot! It's hard for me to sing this song on my own, it's a duet."_

_"Well, you have no choice then because I don't know that song."_

_Rachel pouted but she started humming again, and then she started singing the song while walking along the path to the library. Quinn just followed her, trying to avoid eye contact with students who were sitting outside the library, all busy studying for their final exams. As she was listening to Rachel singing, she thought that it sounded really weird, like Rachel was asking someone a question and answering it herself. Some of the students were annoyed with the interruption, but some were clapping enthusiastically after she finished singing. Rachel even gave a bow at the end. Quinn swore that if Rachel didn't look adorable doing that, she would have walked out of the gates instantly._

_They decided to have dinner somewhere in Midtown, so they took a cab to Fifth Avenue and 72__nd__ and walked along the street while deciding on a place to eat. They were walking slowly, just enjoying each other's company and the sound of the city. The footpath wasn't that busy and the street was unusually quiet. Quinn heard music playing from a restaurant nearby, she was pretty sure it was 'Moon River', the Audrey Hepburn version. Suddenly the moment was perfect. She stopped walking and looked at Rachel. When Rachel noticed that Quinn was no longer walking next to her, she turned around and asked, "Quinn, are you okay?"_

_Quinn smiled and said breathlessly, "Yes, everything's perfect."_

_Rachel walked closer so that they were standing just a few inches apart. Rachel smiled but she didn't say anything. She wondered what Quinn was thinking about but she just waited for Quinn to say something. Quinn took a deep breath. For the first time, she felt that 'this' was right, that the moment was right, that these feelings could no longer be contained, not after 5 years of locking them deep inside. Now they were ready to burst and she had to let this out._

_"Rachel, I – "_

_Suddenly Rachel was lifted up and twirled around right in front of her. After she was set down, she actually laughed and turned to the guy and kissed him. Quinn felt sick. _

_"Hey, sorry to interrupt but I saw you across the street," he said to Rachel, and then he turned to face Quinn and offered a handshake, "Hi, you must be Quinn. I'm Derrick."_

_Quinn shook his hand but noticed that he still had his other hand around Rachel's waist._

_ "Sorry Quinn, I was going to introduce you two tomorrow, but I'm glad that you've met tonight," then she said to Derrick, "Hey, we're about to grab some dinner, do you want to join?" and looking at Quinn, "Is that okay?"_

_"Yeah, sure, of course," Quinn answered gruffly, but she didn't think that Rachel noticed._

_And that's when the perfect day turned into a nightmare. Quinn really hoped that Derrick's a jerk but he was an absolute gentleman, soft spoken, intelligent but not cocky, funny, and to top it off, good looking. He was pretty much a perfect guy for every girl. He was a perfect guy for Rachel and that really irate her. They spent most of the dinner with Quinn disagreeing with him about everything, even though she actually agreed with him, she just wanted to challenge him. She wanted him to lose his temper, but instead he was being very sensible and it just frustrated her even more. Rachel was too stunned with the whole scene that she hardly joined the conversation._

_Quinn found out during dinner that they only started seeing each other about two weeks ago, but they had known each other for a while through his brother, who was a friend of Rachel in NYADA, that he was a recent graduate of Michigan School of Business and was working at NYSE. If there was anything wrong with him was that he couldn't sing and dance. Quinn felt gleeful at that._

_After dinner, Derrick excused himself. He gave Quinn a firm handshake and said, "It's nice to meet you Quinn, perhaps we can continue our conversation tomorrow. Have a good night," and he was smiling the whole time, not the smug kind of way, not even fake, but that he was actually sincere about what he said. How the hell did Rachel find someone this perfect? Then he gave Rachel another kiss. She really felt like kicking his knees._

_They walked in silence to the subway station, but Rachel broke the silence, "Hey, are you okay?"_

_"Yeah, of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be okay?" Quinn answered defensively._

_Rachel looked hurt but Quinn ignored it. They didn't talk the whole ride back to the apartment._

_By the time they reached the apartment, Rachel couldn't take it anymore. "Quinn, what's going on?"_

_"I said nothing! God! Can't you just let it be?"_

_"No! You're acting like … like … there's something bugging you. Do you not like Derrick?"_

_"Who cares about Derrick?" Quinn was almost shouting, hearing his name really riled her up._

_Rachel was hurt by Quinn's word but she continued, "Then what is it? Please talk to me. Are you angry at me?"_

_"Why would I be angry at you? You can do whatever you want, I couldn't care less."_

_"Then why are you being so bitchy?!" Rachel was almost shouting too._

_"That's because I am a bitch Rachel!" Quinn shouted._

_"What is wrong with you?" Rachel was angry now, but then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and then she said, "You know what, I'm tired. I'm going to bed." Rachel released a deep sigh._

_"Fine! I'm going to sleep on the couch," Quinn was still unsatisfied with the shouting match._

_"Oh, don't be silly. Come of it Quinn. Let's sleep on this and we'll talk about this tomorrow, okay?" Rachel almost pleaded, and that soften Quinn's demeanor._

_So they got ready for bed quietly, each deep in their own thoughts. Even though Kurt wasn't there, he didn't allow for anyone else to sleep on his bed. Besides whenever Quinn came around, she always slept in Rachel's bed._

_As they were lying down, Rachel looked at Quinn and sadly said, "Good night."_

_Quinn replied, "Good night," and she turned to face away from Rachel. She tried to sleep but her mind was a jumbled mess. After a few minutes, she could hear Rachel's even breath signaling that she was asleep. She turned to look at Rachel, and that was how she spent the night, studying Rachel's face, committing it to memory. By the time the sun rose, she had already formed this crazy plan in her head._

_She took a shower, got dressed and packed her things. Then she sat on Rachel's side of the bed trying to wake her up._

_"Rachel, Rachel," Quinn said softly while shaking her body slowly._

_Rachel opened her eyes, "Hmm … Oh hey, good morning," she smiled at Quinn._

_Quinn smiled back, "Good morning. Hey listen, I'm really sorry about last night. I don't want us to part on bad terms."_

_Rachel was still groggy from waking up that early, "Hey, it's okay. I don't like us fighting either. I understand where you're coming from." She opened her eyes wider and realized that Quinn was all dressed up. "What time is it? Why are you all dressed?"_

_"Sorry Rachel. I know I'm supposed to leave tomorrow but I got a text from my mom, she said that I have to go home urgently, something came up."_

_"What is it?" Rachel was worried._

_"I … I don't know. Anyway my flight's leaving at 10. I have to be at the airport by 9, which means I have to leave now."_

_Rachel sat up, "What? You're leaving now!" She's fully awake now. "Let me go with you to the airport." She was about to get out of the bed but Quinn stopped her._

_"Rachel, you don't have to go. I really have to leave now."_

_"Oh, okay." Rachel looked very sad, "I guess I'll see you next year then."_

_Quinn pursed her lips, "Yeah." She hugged Rachel tightly and felt tears starting to form in her eyes, but she fought it out. Rachel tightened the hug and Quinn hugged her even tighter. After a few minutes, Quinn loosen the hug and as she was about to let go, she whispered, "Goodbye Rachel." Then she kissed Rachel's forehead._

_Rachel was too surprised by Quinn's action, she didn't say anything. Quinn got off the bed, grabbed her bags, turned to look at Rachel one last time and smiled. Rachel smiled back but she was thoroughly confused. She let Quinn walked out of her apartment even though parts of her wanted to chase her. But she stayed firmly, feeling like Quinn wouldn't be happy if she missed her flight._

_She called Quinn a few hours later, thinking that she should have been in Lima by then, but Quinn didn't answer. She thought that Quinn might be busy, so she sent a text message asking how everything was. Quinn did reply later that night saying that everything was okay, but she would be busy in the next few days because of Christmas. Rachel tried calling Quinn on Christmas day but there was no answer again, so she sent a text message to wish Merry Christmas and that she would be unreachable for the next few days until the New Year because she would be on a cruise ship with her dads. Quinn didn't reply, but she figured Quinn must be busy with Christmas celebration. After she got back from the cruise, she saw that there was no reply from Quinn, but she reasoned it might be because Quinn sent a reply when she was away and it didn't go through. She tried calling Quinn again on New Year's Eve, but there was no answer. She was so frustrated by that time and she really missed Quinn. So she sent a text message: _

**_Quinn, where are you?! I really want to talk to you._**

_No answer._

**_You might be busy with New Year's Eve celebration. Happy New Year Quinn!_**

_She was at Times Square with Derrick for the New Year countdown, and she was about to send another text when she finally got a reply from Quinn. By that time, it was close to midnight._

**_Happy New Year Rachel! I wish you all the best for your future and that you'll get all that you dream of._**

_10 … 9 … 8 … 7 … 6 …_

**_Thanks Quinn. I wish you all the best too and for us to have many more wonderful times together :-)_**

_5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1_

_"Happy New Year!" Then Derrick was kissing her and she put aside everything that was bothering her for a moment._

_She tried to call Quinn the next day but it went to voice mail. She kept on trying; she didn't want to give up on their friendship. She knew that Quinn would have gone back to Yale the next week because classes had started. But when she called, it said that the number was unavailable. She thought that her battery might have died. She tried a few more times but still got the same message._

_Then one day, she couldn't even remember how many weeks had passed, the message said that the number was not in service. She emailed Quinn asking about it. She waited and waited but there was no reply. She even took a train to New Haven, skipping all her classes, but found out that Quinn had moved out of her dorm. So she walked around the campus, hoping that by some miracle she would bump into Quinn, but as the night fell, everything felt pointless and she took the night train back to NYC. Then one day, Kurt said something that she already knew for a while but tried hard to ignore it, but having him voicing it out loud, making it all real. Kurt said that maybe Quinn didn't want to be found. _

_For months and months, Rachel went through ranges of emotions. At first she was worried, then she was angry, then she was back to being worried and sad, then she wondered if it was something that she did, then she was back to being angry. She stayed angry for a long time, but over time, she let it go. She busied herself with classes, auditions, and Derrick._

*** Back to the Present ***

The apartment was so quiet, both of them were reminiscing the past. There were lots of questions that hadn't been answered but none were willing to ask. Maybe those were questions for another day. The awkward moment was saved by Rachel's phone.

After Rachel hung up, she said, "Hey, my agent just reminded me about an album launch that I have to attend tonight, it's produced by my album producer too. So I have to mingle and make contacts with the industry people. Would you like to come along?"

"Erm … sorry Rachel, I can't tonight. I have a dinner party at a friend's place."

"Oh, okay. Well, I better get going. I need a few hours to get ready. My stylist is already on the way to my place."

"Okay." As Rachel was about to leave, Quinn called after her, "Rachel!"

Rachel turned eagerly, expecting that Quinn changed her mind, but Quinn just handed her music sheet and said, "Don't forget this," she smiled.

"Oh yeah. Well bye!"

"Bye."


	6. Part 6

**PART 6**

It had been a few hours since Rachel left Quinn's apartment, but Quinn was still sitting on the couch thinking about the events of the past. She was angry at Rachel for reminding her and for making her felt guilty all over again. She hated for someone to make her felt that what she did is wrong. She knew what she did, she had enough guilt to last a lifetime, maybe even two, but she didn't need anyone to remind her. She had tried so hard to forget, or at least to forgive herself. Most people would think that she hated Rachel. Heck, even sometimes she managed to convince herself that she hated Rachel, but that only lasted a few minutes. Most of all, she hated herself for putting Rachel through it. Thinking about this made her angry at Rachel again. Rachel didn't understand. In fact, nobody understood. She only had Rachel's best intention at heart. Why couldn't people see that? Maybe it didn't help that she didn't want to talk about it with anyone. But the thing was she didn't even know how to explain it.

Mercedes was angry at her for a while, at least not enough to stop talking to her. She couldn't afford to lose another old friend. She almost begged for Mercedes not to tell Rachel, and by extension Kurt and other people, that she was still in touch with Quinn. Quinn tried to explain as best as she can, saying that she had a fall out with Rachel and that she didn't want to have any contact with her, but Mercedes didn't fully believe her. Mercedes tried to get more out of her, but Quinn closed herself off. Quinn was glad for the distance, at least Mercedes couldn't push her too much. She almost caved in when Mercedes called her one night to tell her that Rachel was on the phone with her for a few hours, crying her heart out, because she didn't understand why Quinn would suddenly dropped off from the face of the earth.

She spent her Spring Break in LA, a few months after she broke contact with Rachel. That was where Brittany and Santana were. Besides she really needed to be away from the East Coast. Santana kind of understood why she did what she did. She didn't say much but kind of annoyed with her. She kept on telling Quinn that she was a fool to put herself in such a situation. Brittany didn't say anything much either, but mostly gave her sad looks and lots of hugs. She never cried in front of them though, it made her look weak and vulnerable. She had enough crying in high school, she swore that she would never cry again in front of anyone.

But that was then, and in the present, she had a dinner party to attend. She managed to be sociable for a while, but she had to excuse herself early. Her brain was overloaded with thoughts and emotions. She felt like breaking down and it was hard with people around. She went home and lied in bed for a few hours thinking about what she needed to do with the current situation. She knew that she hurt Rachel when she left without a trace. But she reasoned that it was the right thing to do at that time. Rachel had finally found someone that she deserved, so she backed off, it was that simple. Even though all the previous ones were not worthy of Rachel, she never made a move because too many things were at stakes, and when the time seemed right, it was too late. So she did what she had to do, in the expense of their friendship, and almost her sanity. She couldn't be around Rachel, it hurt too much. _But what about now?_

Now Rachel was back in her life. What should she do? She tried to keep her distance, but Rachel kept coming back, and she just couldn't resist her. She didn't think that this will end well; they were going through the same circle. But she couldn't put Rachel through that again. So for now, she had to make it up to Rachel, for all those lost years.

Quinn woke up with a mission the next day. She went through her usual routine to give herself a few hours to think things through. She finally called Rachel in the afternoon. The phone rang a few times before Rachel finally answered with a groggy voice, "Hello."

"Hi! Did I wake you?"

"Oh hi Quinn! No, no, I'm awake now. Sorry, had a long night," even though Rachel didn't sound like she was fully awake.

"Yeah, how's the album launch?"

"It was okay. Too many people to talk to, and I wasn't really in the mood," Rachel complained.

"Why didn't you go home early then?"

"I can't do that. They'll blacklist me. I need them for my album launch later."

"Hmm, I never understand this entertainment world."

"It's pretty fun at times; you'll get free gifts, invited to cool parties, meet movie stars."

"Oh yeah, which movie stars have you met?"

"Last time I met Ryan Reynolds and he was hitting on me, it's pretty gross," Quinn could imagined Rachel was pouting on the other side and she laughed.

"Good thing that Blake left him then."

"Hey! You're up-to-date with celebrity gossip," Rachel was impressed.

"I like watching E!News, it's a nice break from all the sad news."

"Me too! One day they're going to be talking about me, and that's when I knew that I've made it."

"Do you want to have that life? There's no privacy."

"I don't know. I like that I can do everyday thing without being followed or photographed, but I also want to be famous."

"Rachel, you can only have one or the other."

"Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Anyway, how's your dinner party?"

"It was good. It was with some friends from Yale. It's funny that I was the only one that didn't do what I got for my degree."

"Was this people from your 'female secret society'?" Rachel asked mockingly.

"No!" Quinn answered quickly, "Besides those girls were obnoxious anyway." Quinn paused to think, "Okay, I can be obnoxious at times too."

"Aww, I don't think you are. I think you're just … misunderstood."

"And you think you understand me?"

"I used to think that I did." They were quiet for a while, and then Quinn heard knocking sound on the other side.

"Is there someone at your door?"

"Yeah, that must be Kurt. We're supposed to spend the day together today."

"Oh okay, I'll let you go then."

"Okay. Thanks for calling and have a nice day Quinn."

"Yeah, you too. Erm …" Quinn composed herself, "Can I call you sometime?"

"Yeah, I would like that."

"Okay. Bye then."

"Bye."

Rachel was over the moon when she opened the door for Kurt.

"Well hello! You're glowing. Did you meet your Prince Charming last night or something?"

Rachel just laughed it out, "No!" and she thought about it, "Or something."

Kurt linked his arm with Rachel as they walked further into the apartment. "Come on then, spill it out."

"There's nothing to tell right now. Don't worry Kurt, you'll be the first to know if there's something. Now come on, what should we do today?"

* * *

Things had been going well for them; their friendship was progressing well, as if none of those bad things happened between them all those years ago. Having said that, there was still some distance between them, as if both of them were trying to protect themselves so that they wouldn't be blindsided again. Even though their friendship was blossoming, they had only spent time at Quinn's apartment. Apart from the lunch that they shared many weeks ago, they never did anything outside of the apartment. Quinn always had good reasons not to go to Rachel's apartment, and Rachel almost stopped asking. Besides she liked spending time there. She felt more relax to write songs because her agent wouldn't be stopping by unannounced and giving her added pressure. Quinn didn't mind either.

At the moment, Rachel was playing some notes on the keyboard lazily and Quinn was working on her painting. Rachel glanced at Quinn; she liked seeing Quinn in her overall, her painting attire. She wondered how many overalls Quinn owned. Then she looked out the window, up at the blue sky.

"It's such a beautiful day," she indicated, then turning to Quinn, "Hey! What do you say if we do that touristy thing again?"

Quinn stopped painting, "What, you want to walk 200 blocks again?"

"Yeah!" Rachel said enthusiastically, "Let's go to all those places that we went to before. It was winter last time and it is summer now, which means it would be even better."

Quinn looked at her, considering this proposition.

"And tomorrow's Friday, just like last time. Come on Quinn," Rachel almost whined.

"Oh okay," Quinn rolled her eyes, she hoped Rachel wouldn't whine.

"Yay!" Rachel clapped her hands, "Okay, should I come here first or should we meet at the ferry station?"

"Let's just meet there. How about at 9:30?"

"Okay! Ooh, this would be so much fun," Rachel was already forming plans in her head. "This time, you need to sing it with me."

"Ha! What song?"

"Well, since we're going to end up in Columbia, we have to sing 'I Finally Found Someone'. You remember how weird it sounded like last time."

"Or you don't have to sing it at all," Quinn said disbelievingly.

"Quinn, I can't be there and not sing that song. I haven't been back there since then."

"Rachel, NO! My public singing day is over."

Rachel pouted.

"NO!"

"Fine! I'll just sing on my own then." Rachel huffed, "Well, I have to go now anyway. So I'll see you tomorrow. This will be exciting!" Rachel was beaming again.

After Rachel left, Quinn tried to remember the song that Rachel was talking about. She searched for the video in YouTube and she couldn't believe that Rachel wanted her to sing it together_. Did Rachel even pay attention to the lyrics?_ After the song ended, she played it again … and again … and again.

* * *

The next morning, Rachel was already waiting for Quinn at Battery Park. They started with the ferry trip to Liberty Island and tour of the Statue of Liberty. Quinn brought her camera along and was taking a lot of pictures.

"Hey, what happened to the pictures that you took last time? I never got to see them."

"I have them in one of my hard drives. I'll look it up later."

After Statue of Liberty, they visited Ground Zero. It had been 20 years since that fateful day. Off they went to South Street Seaport, then to Chinatown and had lunch at Little Italy. They spent a few hours at Met Museum, especially at the Renaissance section. They took a stroll through Central Park. It was a fine summer day, so there were many New Yorkers and tourist, almost making the park too crowded. Finally they arrived at Columbia University's Butler Library.

"Oh how I miss this place."

"You could have just come here anytime."

"No, I couldn't," Rachel looked down while she was saying that. Even though she had her back on Quinn, she could almost imagine Rachel's sad face. Then Rachel started humming that tune. Quinn looked around and luckily there weren't that many people near them. She looked at Rachel who was still humming the beginning of the song. She could hear that Rachel was about to sing the first verse. Quinn couldn't believe what she was about to do.

Rachel took a deep breath and opened her mouth, about to sing the first verse when suddenly she heard Quinn's voice.

"I finally found someone," Rachel looked at her in shock, and Quinn was looking at her saying that she couldn't believe that she was doing this, "who knocks me off my feet," then she smiled, "I finally found the one who makes me feel complete..."

Rachel continued, "It started over coffee, we started out as friends, it's funny how from simple things, the best things begin..."

They were looking at each other the whole time, but broke eye contact once in a while. Quinn walked slowly and sang, "This time is different…"

Rachel: "la la la la"

Quinn: "It's all because of you!"

Rachel: "la la la la"

Quinn: "It's better than it's ever been…"

They were both singing, "'Cause we can talk it through…"

Rachel: "My favorite line was 'Can I call you sometime?'" she chuckled at that while looking at Quinn and Quinn almost blushed, "It's all you had to say..."

Together: "To take my breath away...This is it! Oh, I finally found someone, someone to share my life; I finally found the one - to be with every night…"

Rachel: "'Cause whatever I do…"

Quinn: "It's just got to be you!"

Together: "My life has just begun, I finally found someone..."

They were still standing a few meters apart, almost circling each other. Quinn looked at her smugly, "Did I keep you waiting?"

Rachel replied, "I didn't mind"

Then Quinn looked apologetic, "I apologize…"

Rachel looked sorry too, "Baby, that's fine…"

Quinn: "I would wait forever…"

Together: "Just to know you were mine…"

Quinn smiled again, "You know - I love your hair..."

Rachel touched her hair, "Are you sure it looks right?"

Quinn looked at Rachel up and down, "I love what you wear..."

Rachel ran her hands through her dress, "Isn't it too tight?"

Quinn stared at her intently, "You're exceptional!"

Together: "I can't wait for the rest of my life...Oh This Is It! I finally found someone, someone to share my life; I finally found the one; to be with every night..."

Rachel: "Cause whatever I do…"

Quinn: "It's just got to be you…"

They were moving towards each other but still kept some distance.

Together: "My life has just begun; I finally found someone..."

Rachel: "And whatever I do…"

Quinn: "It's just got to be you!"

Rachel: "My life has just begun..."

Together: "I finally found someone..."

They were both out of breath after the song ended, and looking deeply into each other's eyes, both wondering what the other was thinking. They were too preoccupied that they didn't realize people were clapping. Rachel bowed down when she realized it and she was grinning, but Quinn almost wanted to make a run for it. One of the students approached Rachel.

"Aren't you Rachel Berry?"

"You know me?"

"Yeah! I love your performance in Mamma Mia. Can I please have a picture with you?"

"Sure," Rachel happily obliged and the girl took a photo.

"That was great by the way. I even recorded it."

"You did? Can you please email it to me? Here, let me give my email address," Rachel gave her email address. The girl was ecstatic; she had Rachel's email address.

After they left, Quinn said, "Can you please ask her not to put it on YouTube or something?"

"Yeah, sure," Rachel didn't mind if she did, but clearly Quinn's not comfortable with that.

They took another stroll through Central Park. The sun was setting, so the park wasn't as crowded as before. They saw a girl was busking, so they stopped to listen. She slowly strummed her guitar and sang 'Can't Help Falling in Love'. Rachel was standing next to Quinn but slightly in front which made it possible for Quinn to clearly see her face but she couldn't really see Quinn's.

"Shall I stay, would it be a sin, if I can't help falling in love with you."

The lyrics struck her deeply and she looked at Rachel longingly.

"So take my hand, and take my whole life too, as I can't help falling in love with you."

She took a deep breath. Rachel was too absorbed with the performance that she didn't notice that Quinn was openly staring at her.

"Some things are meant to be…"

Rachel clapped excitedly after the song ended and turned to face Quinn, too fast for Quinn to look the other way. Quinn was caught leering at Rachel. She blushed but Rachel didn't say anything. Rachel just cocked her head and smiled. Rachel gave the girl a $100 bill that she was almost too stunned to say thank you, but she managed in the end. Rachel pulled Quinn away, because it looked like Quinn wasn't able to move.

Suddenly somebody lifted Rachel up and twirled her around.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Quinn said under her breath.

After Rachel was set down, she turned to the guy, laughed and playfully pushed him.

"Hey! I saw you from across the street that I have to come by and say hello."

Rachel rolled her eyes playfully, "I'm here with my friend, Quinn," pointing to Quinn, then she introduced them, "Quinn, this is Cole; we're in Mamma Mia together."

Quinn shook Cole's hand, but she tried to act indifferent. She noticed that Cole had his hand around Rachel's waist.

"My friend and I," he was pointing to his friend across the street, "were about to get some dinner. Would you ladies care to join us?"

Quinn was holding her breath.

"Sorry Cole, we already made some plans. I'll see you next time, okay?" Rachel said.

"Okay then, I'll see you next time. It's nice to meet you Quinn. Bye girls!"

Once he's gone, Rachel said, "He's been trying to get me to go out on a date with him."

"Why didn't you?" Quinn wondered.

Rachel just shrugged.

They walked quietly, both deep in thoughts. Then they settled for dinner at Loeb Boathouse. Quinn insisted in paying for dinner, so Rachel treated her for a raspberry tart at Le Pain Quotidien while Rachel had a Belgian Waffle. Throughout dinner they talked about the wonderful day they had but skipping over some topics that none of them were ready to discuss.

"My apartment's just a few blocks from here. Do you want to come over?" Rachel said after they left the restaurant.

"Sorry Rachel, I'm pretty tired. We've walked the whole day," Quinn said pointedly, "I think I better go home, maybe next time." Truthfully, Quinn needed some alone time to think.

"Okay, I'll see you next time then. Good night."

"Good night." They hugged goodbye before Quinn got into a cab.


	7. Part 7

**PART 7**

A few weeks had passed since they had their outing. Even though Quinn said to herself that she wanted to think about what was going on between her and Rachel, she ended up ignoring her own advice and decided to cross the bridge when she got there. For now, she would just play it by the book. The thing was, every time she tried to think of her situation with Rachel, it hurt her brain. She would be tossing and turning in bed for hours at times. It was a good thing she didn't have normal jobs that required her to be at work at certain hours because her sleeping hours were completely messed up. It made her really tired and cranky, so she figured the best solution was to not think about it. She didn't want to resort to taking sleeping pills to sleep because that would be dangerous.

They still spent a lot of time together when they could, but it wasn't that often. It was just that their schedule had been keeping them apart. Well, mostly it was Rachel's schedule. She had to go to LA for a few days to record some songs, and she had been going back and forth there for the past two weeks. Quinn was glad that Mercedes wasn't in LA at the moment, she was not ready for other people to know about their friendship and she didn't want Rachel to have that conversation with Mercedes. It would just lead to questions that she didn't want to think at the moment. She wasn't even sure what she was going to do this time, was she going to stick around or was she going to bail out again?

She was very thankful for having Beth in her life. Beth was coming over in 2 weeks' time for the summer holiday, so they had been busy planning their trip. They were planning for a road trip up to Maine for white-water rafting adventure over there. So she needed to rent a car, book accommodations, and everything, it kept her well occupied. Her relationship with Beth was probably the only thing that kept her grounded and centered. Even though Beth called her 'Mama', their relationship was more like close aunt and niece. Beth would talk to her whenever she had arguments with Shelby or Puck; she was like Beth's confidante. Of course it crossed her mind on where Rachel was going to fit in all this. Rachel had express interest on meeting Beth. Should she invite Rachel for the road trip or should she say that it was only for her and Beth? It didn't seem right not to invite Rachel, but what if Rachel said yes, what then? Did Rachel want to spend that much time with Beth, Shelby's daughter? Did _she_ even want Rachel to spend that much time with Beth, _her_ daughter? Thinking about this made her head hurt, and then she thought about how Beth and Rachel are somewhat sisters and that almost made her freak out. That was when she realized that she had spent too much time thinking about this.

Little that they noticed, it had been 2 months since they first met each other again. Actually Rachel did notice. It might seem like a short time to some but putting things into perspective; it was a very long time if you had waited years.

Rachel had spent 3 days in LA and just got back to NYC the night before. Currently they were spending their Sunday afternoon together at Quinn's apartment, as usual. Quinn was sitting on a couch and was doing some sketching for her next project while Rachel was sitting on the opposite couch while writing some song lyrics. Actually at the moment, she was mostly doodling and would occasionally glance at Quinn. Rachel was trying to write but she was finding it really hard to concentrate. Something had been bothering her for a while and she felt restless. She spent the whole 6-hour flight back from LA thinking about it, and a few more hours that night before she finally got some sleep. Truthfully, it was something that had bothered her for a very long time, but she had been afraid to voice it out, because she was afraid of the consequences. She hoped that this time it would be different, but the more she waited, the more she felt that she was going through the same predicament. She figured it was better for her to strike first because she was tired of waiting and not knowing.

She felt like she had followed Quinn into this magical forest because she was convinced that Quinn was going to show her the enchanted garden, but the more and more she followed Quinn deeper into the forest, the more lost she became. She got lost a few times before but she managed to pull herself out every time. She was afraid that one day she would be too lost to find her way out. So this time she needed to know for sure, on whether she was ever going to see that garden. If not, she had to leave the forest. What was the worst thing that could happen? Quinn would disappear again? She survived last time; surely she could survive this time around too.

Rachel took a deep breath and put her notepad down. "Are you ever going to make a move?"

Quinn stopped sketching and looked at Rachel confusedly; she wasn't completely sure what Rachel was referring at, although she might have inkling, "What do you mean?"

Rachel breathed out, "Quinn, I don't know what it is that's going on between us. I'm rather confused, with you, with my feelings." Rachel stopped to think, "No, that's not true. I'm sure about my feelings, but I don't know what you're feeling."

Quinn nervously laughed and tried to avoid Rachel's eyes, "I'm not sure what you want me to say."

"Say that you feel something for me. That you want something more out of this."

Quinn was gripping her sketchpad tightly, "Rachel, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on Quinn; please don't be coy about this. There's something between us, not just for the past few weeks, but years ago and we both ignored it or pretended it never was, but I can't pretend anymore."

"If it is, then why did you choose to say something now?" Quinn put down her sketchpad and was challenging her.

"Because I can't take this anymore, this push and pull," Rachel looked tired. "I felt so happy after spending the whole day with you but then I would go home every night feeling even worse because I long for something more. It's easier last time because at least we had the distance and … distraction, but I can't help it now with you being this close."

"What, you want me to move?" Quinn looked at her in disbelief.

"That's not what I meant." Rachel was on the edge of her seat. "What I meant … I don't want to fight this anymore, and you shouldn't either." Rachel shook her head, "Well, that's the other thing, sometimes I was so sure that you want me too, but then suddenly you would turn 180 and I didn't know what to think of anymore." Quinn crossed her arms and flopped into the couch. "I want you to want me, and I don't know if you do. I'm so confused with all your signals. One day you're hot, the next day you're cold, one day you look like you want to devour me, then the next you look you can't even stand me. Sometimes I'm not sure if you even like me."

Quinn sniggered, "Oh yeah, if you like me that much all this time, you sure were good at showing it by dating Finn and Brody and Derrick and who knows who else."

"Well, you didn't seem interested anyway. I was single for months and you didn't do anything."

"Oh yeah, those few months that you were single between Brody and Derrick. How many months was it? 3? 4? I didn't know there's a deadline," Quinn said sarcastically.

"It's 7! And no, there's no deadline but if I had known there's a chance, then I would have waited."

Quinn laughed, "Why didn't _you_ make a move then?"

"Because I was afraid that I'm going to lose you!" Rachel blurted out and looked at Quinn intensely. "What if I was wrong and you would think that I was a freak and you would cut yourself off. Well, as it turned out, you did do that." Rachel said straightforwardly. "I tried so hard to understand why you did that. You broke my heart Quinn." Quinn looked at her remorsefully. "I cried for so many nights. And for a long time I was angry at you. Maybe I still do."

Quinn's face hardened, "What? You think that was easy for me? You think I was having a field day?"

"I really don't know how you feel. You never want to talk about it. I didn't understand your intention, your motivation. For all I know, you didn't feel anything."

"Yeah, sure, you think I'm heartless," Quinn scoffed.

"I didn't say that! Stop twisting my words around!" Rachel was getting annoyed.

Quinn stood up and walked around, she felt trapped sitting in one spot. She stopped and looked at Rachel, "You are _so_ selfish and self-absorbed; all you think about is _you_, about what _you_ want. Have you even considered how this is affecting other people?"

"How is this affecting you? Please tell me, talk to me," Rachel was pleading.

Quinn looked away.

"How am I supposed to understand when you always closed yourself off? All I want to do is to be able to love you and treat you right. Well then yes! I am selfish! Who isn't? Aren't we all just a little selfish for wanting what we desire?" Quinn was still looking the other way. "But Quinn, you're a coward. You want something but you're too afraid to take it."

"You have no idea what I want." Quinn gritted her teeth. "What do you think Rachel? That we're going to ride it off to the sunset? Open your eyes! If you keep looking for that happy ending then you will never get it. You surely won't get it from me. It's never going to happen."

Rachel looked stricken by the tone of Quinn's voice and the finality of the statement.

Quinn softened, "Rachel, you deserved to be happy and to be with someone that can help make all your dreams come true. I'm just not that person."

"Why are you so convinced that you're not?"

"Because that's who I am, I'm a wreck! All I could bring is unhappiness and destruction."

"No Quinn, you're not that person. You make me happy, well, present time not included. But you've also made so many people happy by being in their lives. Look at what you have with Beth."

Quinn tightened her lips, she was fighting back tears.

"You're a lot more than that. Why are you trying so hard to fight this?" Rachel asked.

"Because it is what it is. The world might have changed on the surface, but deep down it's still the same. There are still lots of hatred and intolerance. Rachel, you can't live with worries. Well, I can't live like that," Quinn was shaking her head.

"I have two gay dads. We're pretty okay."

"Fine, you have a perfect life, you have nothing to lose. Well, **_I_** have everything to lose."

Rachel looked at Quinn sympathetically, "Are you worried about Beth and your family? I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."

"Rachel, you're so frustrating." Quinn heaved a sigh. "I'm okay with what we have now. What more do you want?" Quinn was getting agitated.

"I want more. Don't you?" Rachel was holding her breath waiting for Quinn to answer her.

Quinn looked at Rachel deeply and said, "No."

Rachel felt that she couldn't breathe. She really needed to get away from the apartment, from Quinn. "I'm sorry Quinn, I can't do this anymore. I can't be around you and not having more, it hurts too much."

"So you're giving me an ultimatum?" Quinn couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"No. I'm trying to protect myself." Rachel quickly packed her stuff. As she was about to walk out the door she turned around and said, "Goodbye Quinn."

She managed to make her way downstairs, got into a cab, and even made her way back to her apartment without shedding a tear, although she looked like a zombie. She quickly opened her door, stepped into the apartment, and the moment she closed the door, she slumped to the floor and cried.

Meanwhile, Quinn was still standing in her living room, right where Rachel had left her. She was taking deep breaths, trying very hard to control her temper. Everything seemed like a nightmare, she felt like breaking things. She was so angry that tears started flowing down her face. Then she realized what she had just lost and she broke down.


	8. Part 8

**PART 8**

Rachel let herself cry for the whole day. She still felt crappy the day after but she had lots of things to do, lots of deadline to meet. So she spent the next few days immersing her time with writing songs. If Adele can make a great album about a broken heart, then she was going to seize this moment. Maybe she would win all those Grammys then. She still hadn't had a Tony and that made her depressed even more.

She would meet up with Kurt and her other friends and acted like nothing happened. She was not ready to tell Kurt. It was just too painful to relive it. They were all wondering where she had been most of the times because they hardly saw her in the last few months, but she just said that she was under pressure from the record label, so she had to spend lots of time writing and recording.

She had to fly to LA to record more songs in the studio. For once she actually welcomed this inconvenience of flying back and forth, but this time she decided to stay in LA for a bit more than needed. She couldn't handle being in NYC at the moment. It was hard to pass by all those places that they had been together and not think about it. She was glad that Mercedes wasn't in LA at the moment because it was hard to meet up with someone who had a connection with Quinn.

Sometimes she would be staring at her phone, itching to send a simple text message, just wondering how Quinn was doing and all that, but then she would stop. She needed to be strong and to respect herself. If Quinn didn't want this, then she was not going to push her. She said to herself that this was just a glitch, that everything will be as they were, before she met Quinn again, and she was doing okay before that. She didn't need Quinn to turn her world upside down. _Oh God, she misses Quinn. No! Now wasn't the time to be thinking of her._

Currently she was in the studio and she was about to do a cover of Bonnie Raitt's classic. It had been overdone by many artists, but she would love to have her own rendition in her album. She made the arrangement with the song's producer and they were recording this acoustic cover in one sitting with just a piano and a violin.

_Turn down the lights, turn down the bed  
Turn down these voices inside my head  
Lay down with me, tell me no lies  
Just hold me close, don't patronize - don't patronize me_

Cause I can't make you love me if you don't  
You can't make your heart feel something it won't  
Here in the dark, in these final hours  
I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power  
But you won't, no you won't  
'Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't 

By the end of the chorus, Rachel had tears streaming down her face, but she continued singing.

_I'll close my eyes, then I won't see  
The love you don't feel when you're holding me  
Morning will come and I'll do what's right  
Just give me till then to give up this fight  
And I will give up this fight _

She had Quinn's face at the back of her mind and it felt really hard to breathe, let alone sing, but she managed to finish the final chorus.

_Cause I can't make you love me if you don't  
You can't make your heart feel something it won't  
Here in the dark, in these lonely hours  
I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power  
But you won't, no you won't  
'Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't._

She was openly crying when the song was over. Everyone was too stunned to say anything, besides they were deeply moved by her performance. After a few minutes, they all clapped their hands which brought Rachel back from her reverie. She smiled shyly. Then she realized that all their eyes were glistening with tears.

The producer came into the room and hugged her, "Wow Rachel! That was absolutely beautiful. That was simply amazing! I don't think we should do another take. That was … perfect."

"Thank you. Yeah, yeah, I think so too. If you excuse me, I think I need to take a break."

Rachel went back to her hotel room and decided to check her email. She had almost forgotten that she had given a girl her email address and she had finally emailed the video of Quinn and her singing. She remembered that Quinn didn't want the video on YouTube, so she replied saying thank you and to inform her of that. After she replied, she felt annoyed with Quinn and she thought of uploading it just to irritate Quinn, but changed her mind because no matter what she wished to respect Quinn's request. Suddenly she felt restless being in the hotel room. She had time to spare, so might as well go to Disneyland, after all it was the happiest place on Earth, and she needed all the happiness right now. She hoped that Ariel would love to duet with her.

* * *

Quinn spent a lot of time lying in bed. She would lie in bed at night for a few hours until her eyes got so sleepy and forced her to sleep, and she would lie in bed for a few hours in the morning when she woke up. Sometimes she was thinking about too many things at once, and sometimes her mind was completely blank. She felt like a walking dead. When she actually managed to get herself out of bed, she tried to do some work. She still had that art show and mural design to complete.

She still thought it was the right thing to do. Rachel deserved someone better, someone that wouldn't break her heart, someone stable. Apart from that, she was also trying to protect herself. She knew how easy it was to be so affected by Rachel. She felt open and vulnerable when it came to Rachel, like it was so easy for her to get her heart broken. Even friendship with Rachel made her world go topsy-turvy, she couldn't imagine how it would be like if they were involved in a romantic way. She was afraid that she was going to lose her heart and herself in the process. She would lose control and that was not something that she was willing to do. _Rachel didn't understand all this._ She saw the world as this happy pappy please, but Quinn saw the world as a disaster waiting to happen. _Why must Rachel make everything so complicated? Why can't she just be happy with the friendship?_ Although Quinn knew that the moment Rachel found someone else, it would be the end of their friendship because _she_ couldn't handle it. Maybe this is better; at least she wouldn't have to see them together. This just made her angry at Rachel again. It felt like that was all she did, going back and forth between angry and sad. She was tired of this. She was not going to call Rachel. In her mind, she was in the right and Rachel was in the wrong, so if Rachel wanted to rekindle their friendship, Rachel should be the one to start.

By the second week, her sleeping pattern got even worse. She probably had a total of 3-4 hours of sleep a night. She felt so tired and exhausted all the time. She tried to socialize once in a while, she would meet up with some friends for coffee, but she always had to excuse herself early. Sometimes she would go to the café that she frequented, but even that café felt it had been tainted by Rachel's presence.

She was still awake one night, even though it was almost 4 am and she had been awake since 7 in the morning. Her body was really tired but she didn't know how to shut off her mind. So she decided to do some work while listening to songs from her iTunes that was put on shuffle. A song started playing and she hadn't heard it for a while. It was a song by Shawn Colvin, "I Don't Know Why". She wasn't familiar with her until her roommate in Yale introduced her. She stopped painting to listen to the lyrics. After the song ended, she searched online for the piano sheet. She felt compelled to learn how to play it. So she played the song on her keyboard while singing,

_I don't know why  
The sky is so blue  
And I don't know why  
I'm so in love with you  
But if there were no music  
Then I would not get through  
I don't know why  
I know these things, but I do_

I don't know why  
But somewhere dreams come true  
And I don't know where  
But there will be a place for you  
And every time you look that way  
I would lay down my life for you  
I don't know why  
I know these things, but I do

I don't know why  
But some are going to make you cry  
And I don't know how  
But I will get you by, I will try  
They're not trying to cause you pain  
They're just afraid of loving you  
I don't know why  
I know these things, but I do

I don't know why  
The trees grow so tall  
And I don't know why  
I don't know anything at all  
But if there were no music  
Then I would not get through  
I don't know why  
I know these things, but I do  
I don't know why  
I know these things, but I do

She was sobbing by the time the song was over. She picked up her phone and went through all the messages from Rachel. She didn't delete any of them, not even a simple "Hi". She looked at the 'Call' button and thought of pushing it, but she stopped herself. For one thing, it was almost 5 am, and the second thing, she still wanted Rachel to call her first.

By the third week, if not for Beth's arrival, Quinn might have gone off the deep end. Beth arrived on Monday afternoon and they stayed in the city for the night. For the first time in a while, Quinn finally managed to get a good night sleep. They started the road trip early next morning, starting with a drive to Connecticut to visit her alma mater. The trip took them to Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. It was a 1-week road trip so they had plenty of time to do lots of sightseeing and detours. It helped Quinn to momentarily forget Rachel. But so many times throughout the trip, whenever she let her mind wandered, it would always go back to Rachel. Even Beth noticed that she looked sad at times, but she kept on deflecting the questions.

Unfortunately the trip had to come to an end. She really didn't want Beth to leave. She loved having her around but she knew that Beth was not hers to keep. Apart from that, she also resented having to go back to the state she was before. She sent Beth to the airport for her flight back to LA. When she got home, she was about to call Puck to inform him that Beth was already on the plane when it struck her on what she had to do.


	9. Part 9

**PART 9**

"Hey Baby Mama! How are two of my favorite girls doing?"

"Hey Puck! We're fine. Beth's on the plane now, she should arrive there around 6:15."

"Okay, that's great. I'll tell Shelby that. She's picking her up. So how was the trip?"

"It was good, very good. Beth took so many pictures. She said that she's going to do a PowerPoint presentation for you two. I don't know where she got that idea," Quinn could only think of one person that would do something like that.

Puck laughed it out, probably had the same thought in his mind, but Quinn had an important mission, so she got right into it.

"Hey Puck, can I have Finn's number?"

"Woah! You are not trying to get back together with him … are you? He's married now with a kid."

Quinn was annoyed with Puck's assumption, "Don't be stupid. Just give me his number."

"Okay 'Scary Quinn'." Puck laughed, "Why do you want his number anyway?"

"I have my reasons. Can I please have it? I'll tell you later okay … erm … maybe."

"Okay, okay. I'll text you his number. Go easy on him, he's a dad now," Puck teased again. Quinn rolled her eyes even though no one could see it.

"Thanks Puck. I'll talk to you later, and please say Hi to Shelby for me and give Beth a big hug."

"Will do Quinn. Later."

Puck texted Finn's number and Quinn called him straight away.

"Hello?" Finn sounded puzzled because he didn't recognize the number.

"Hi Finn, it's Quinn," it was funny saying that. _Why are their names so alike? _

"Hi Quinn. Wow, this is a surprise. How are you?" Finn wasn't sure which direction this phone call would take him.

"I'm fine. And how are you? I heard you just had a baby?"

"Yeah, I guess Puck told you that. Guess what her name is?"

"Drizzle?" Quinn guessed thinking that Finn couldn't have given her daughter _that_ name.

"Hey, you remember. Yeah, she's so beautiful."

Quinn thought that his wife must have really loved him to agree to that name. "Well, I'm happy for you Finn. Anyway, can I have Kurt's number?" Quinn didn't mean to sound so abrupt, but it was kind of annoying to talk to people who were so cheerful when your life was in the dumped.

"Oh okay, why do you want his number?"

"Oh My God! Can't people just give a number without asking too many questions?" Quinn was quite infuriated.

"Okay, okay, 'Scary Quinn'," Finn did sound scared.

"And can everybody please stop calling me that!?"

"Oh … erm … sorry. I'll text you his number after this."

"Thanks Finn. Sorry about that outburst, I just haven't had enough sleep."

"It's okay. It's nice to hear from you Quinn."

They said their collective 'byes' and Finn texted Kurt's number.

"Hello! Kurt speaking!" _Oh God! Another happy voice_. Quinn was really irritated now, but she needed to be nice to Kurt, she needed his help.

"Hi Kurt. It's Quinn."

"Quinn?! Quinn Fabray! Oh My God! It's Quinn Fabray."

"Can you please not say my name out loud?!" Quinn was panicking. "Is anyone there? Is Rachel there?"

"Why would Rachel be here? I'm at work."

"Oh, okay, sorry to bother you, but I really have to talk right now."

"Sure. What is it? Are you okay?" Kurt sounded concern.

"I'm fine. I just … I need … Do you know where Rachel is right now?"

"You're calling me to ask about Rachel? _The_ Rachel that you stopped talking to a few years ago? _Your friend_ Rachel that you just abandoned?" Kurt was trying to get a rise out of Quinn. He still remembered how Rachel was when Quinn disappeared and all those nights that he had to comfort her.

"Look, I'm not going to explain myself to you. I'm sorry that it happened, besides … wait, what do you mean we haven't talked for years? Didn't she tell you that we've been friends again for a few months now?"

"No. And I saw her every week but she never mentioned you. Rachel Berry, what are you trying to hide?" Kurt wondered out loud.

"It doesn't matter. Do you know where she is?"

"She's in London right now."

"What's she doing over there?"

"Meeting some music producers."

"Oh. When is she coming back?"

"I don't know."

"Well, when you do know, can you please tell me? And please don't tell her I called. Please don't mention me at all, okay?"

"Okay." Kurt wasn't sure why he was agreeing to this, after everything that she had done to Rachel, but there was something in her tone that made him wanted to help.

"Thanks Kurt. Thanks for your help."

"You're welcome Quinn. I'll get back to you as soon as I know, okay. I guess this is your number, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks again Kurt. Bye."

She released a heavy sigh after the call ended. Things would have been easier if Mercedes was here, at least she didn't have to go through all that just to talk to Kurt, but Mercedes was somewhere in Africa doing some humanitarian work and she was unreachable. It was a good thing that Rachel was in London because she wasn't sure what her plan actually was. She just thought that she needed to be in touch with Kurt, so that she could have a connection to Rachel or something, but now that she had it, she was completely clueless on what she needed to do.

Over the next few days Quinn was busy planning. It was a good thing because it gave her a purpose. She was no longer having trouble sleeping. She got a phone call from Kurt a few days later, "Okay, she's coming back on Sunday."

"Sunday! That's too soon. Well, thanks Kurt. I have one more favor to ask, but I'll tell you later. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, I'm curious what this is all about now."

It took Quinn a few more days to have everything ready, so she called Kurt later to ask him for the favor, "Can you please help with this? But please don't ask too much. I just want to make sure that I can count on you."

"Of course Quinn, what do you want me to do?"

* * *

It was a Friday night and Kurt took Rachel out for dinner and a stroll in the city center. He noticed that Rachel looked a bit better since she came back from London than when she was a few weeks ago. He asked her if she was ready to talk about whatever that was bothering her, but she still said that she was not ready to talk about it. He wondered if it was anything to do with Quinn. He did the math, Quinn said that they had been friends again for the past few months, Rachel was scarcely seen for last few months, and then she had been around a bit more in the last few weeks but looked rather sad most of the times, so he figured this must be something to do with Quinn, _again_. He saw how they were with each other. Rachel had that smitten look whenever Quinn was around and Quinn had that soft look that he noticed was only given to Rachel. Sometimes he wondered that if it was something more between those two, but Rachel was so straight. He knew. He was her roommate, and also that whole part of her almost marrying his brother. Quinn was straight too as far he saw it, especially with the pregnancy and all. Apart from the looks that they exchanged, he didn't think there was anything more than that. Besides, wasn't that what girls do? They were all touchy feely and all that. He might be gay but it didn't mean that he had a good gaydar. He wondered what actually happened in Quinn's last visit that made them went their separate ways.

After dinner, they stopped by Times Square. Both of them love to come there during night time because the billboards felt more alive. They stood quietly admiring them, but after a few minutes Rachel wanted to leave. Kurt stopped her, "Hey, where are you going? Don't you want to admire this some more?"

"No, I don't feel like it tonight. This used to cheer me up, but I just felt tired now."

Kurt was looking at his watch, "Wait! Have you seen that new one at the Disney Store?"

"Yeah but …" Rachel didn't finish her sentence because suddenly the billboards surrounding her went blank. "Is there a black out?" Although she knew that it was not possible seeing that other lights were still on. Other people noticed too and all of them were looking at the screens.

Then the billboards came alive again, but instead of the usual ads, they had Quinn's painting of Rachel on the bleacher. Then other paintings, picture collages, and drawings of Rachel were on display all over the digital billboards in Times Square. She didn't even know the existence of the other art work, she had only seen one. There was a painting of her playing the piano in the auditorium, when she thought no one else was around, and there was another one where she was leaning over the ferry while looking at the Statue of Liberty. There were too many and it lasted for 5 minutes. She was completely stunned, and so were Kurt and everyone else in the area. Some people were even taking videos. She felt her heart beat faster and faster. The display ended with the words "I love you Rachel", but a few seconds later it added "Now it's your move." Then the screens went back to the original ads.

She turned to look at Kurt who was already looking at her in complete shock. That was when she noticed a figure behind her.

It was Quinn.

Quinn looked at her tenderly while waiting for an answer. She saw that Rachel was smiling and coming towards her. She thought that Rachel was going to hug her, but instead Rachel kissed her and wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck. Now it was Quinn's turn to be shocked. After a few seconds, she returned the kiss and put her arms around Rachel's waist, which in turned made Rachel run her hand through Quinn's hair.

Kurt didn't know where to look, he was too surprised with the sudden turn of events, and both Quinn and Rachel had obviously forgotten that he was there.

"I'm gonna … I better … I … Well, see you girls later," and he just walked away.

Rachel broke the kiss and said, "I love you too Quinn."

Quinn smiled shyly, "I love you Rachel."

"What change?" Rachel had to know.

"I realized that I'm an idiot for letting my fear get in the way of true happiness, my one true love," Quinn smiled saying that because she knew how corny it sounded, but it didn't mean that it wasn't true.

Rachel smiled back, she wanted to say something but suddenly they both heard music playing in the background.

"Is that 'Unchained Melody'?" Rachel was asking Quinn while looking around for the source. Quinn looked around too. This wasn't part of her plan but it fit nicely, so she decided to sing along. She looked at Rachel and sang,

_And time goes by so slowly_

_And time can do so much_

_Are you still mine?_

Rachel was too amazed to say anything. Quinn swayed their bodies together so that they were slowly dancing in the middle of Times Square.

_I need your love_

_I need your love_

_God speed your love to me._

Quinn moved back from Rachel so that she could hold her hands and twirled her around.

_Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea_

_To the open arms of the sea, yeah!_

_Lonely rivers sigh "wait for me, wait for me"_

_I'll be coming home_

_Wait for me._

They were kind of doing the ballroom dancing and Rachel was smiling and laughing the whole time. At the moment, it felt like they were the only people there.

_Oh my love, my darling_

_I've hungered_

_Hungered for your touch_

_A long lonely time_

_And time goes by so slowly_

_And time can do so much,_

_Are you still mine?_

They stopped dancing and Quinn had her arms around Rachel again. She looked deeply into Rachel's eyes and continued singing,

_I need your love, I..._

_I need your love_

_God speed your love to me._

As the music faded, Quinn kissed Rachel with all the feelings that she had kept inside for so many years. Finally it was Quinn's turn to lift Rachel up and twirled her around.

**THE END**

_**Author's Notes:**__ Thank you everyone for reading this. I really appreciated all the feedback. You make me want to be a better writer :-) And I hope that you've enjoyed this Faberry journey. Also, you can download the songs featured in this fic here: www wickedndivine com/DareYouToMove zip (please put a dot in between the empty space)_

_**P/S:**__ I thought of using 'Unchained Melody' before finding out that Glee's going to do it, which makes me sad because it will never be a Faberry song in the show and it will never be like how I imagined it. Oh well._


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